How dread­ful is the place
Where God ap­points to meet
Sinners that hum­bly seek His face,
And trem­ble at His feet.
Where to th’as­sem­bled crowd
His pro­mised grace is giv­en:
This is the so­lemn house of God,
This is the gate of Hea­ven!

His or­di­nance di­vine
He now vouch­safes to own,
Blessings here­in and du­ties join,
And God and Man is One:
The sac­ra­ment­al rite
Which Je­sus’ love com­mands
Heaven and earth by faith t’unite
Like Ja­cob’s lad­der stands.

On this mys­te­ri­ous tree
Where our Re­deem­er hung,
Descending and as­cend­ing see
The bright an­gel­ic throng!
They fill the hal­lowed place
While we His death re­cord,
And lost in si­lent won­der gaze
At our ex­pir­ing Lord.

By Je­sus’ cross sus­tained
Our souls to Hea­ven as­pire,
Blessings by Je­sus’ cross des­cend
And raise our rap­tures high­er.
The min­is­ters of grace
Swift to our suc­cor move,
Our guard­ians fill the mid­dle space
And God ap­pears above!

He calls us to the skies,
And lo! we spurn the ground,
Light on the sac­red lad­der rise,
And gain the top­most round;
Of ev­er­last­ing life
The glo­ri­ous pledge is giv­en,
Another step shall end the strife,
And lodge us all in Hea­ven!